Sharon Keller said "we close at 5" in Case in Which State's Expert Psychologist Used Junk Science to Evaluate Defendant's Mental Retardation

The Texas Observer is reporting in the article "Cracked", by Renée Feltz that the prosecution's expert psychologist used junk science to determine that the defendant in the case in which Sharon Keller slammed shut the doors of her court by saying "we close at 5" did not have mental retardation.

Michael Richard, the person whom Texas executed after Sharon Keller said "we close at 5", would probably have been found to be constitutionally protected from being subject to the death penalty, if the state's expert psychologist had not used junk science to incorrectly determine that he did not have mental retardation.

The now discredited psychologist, George Denkowski, also handled 17 other Texas death penalty cases in which the people are still on Texas' death row, all of which would need to be re-evaluated, if Denkowski loses his license as a result of a hearing to be held Feb 16 in Austin.

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Source: Texas Death Penalty Blog, January 10, 2010

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